So are Hextech and Yordle Tech the same or different things?
So there's something that's been burning in my head for a while, and it's mainly about yordle technology. Now if you thought when I asked the title question "They're the same", then that's fair enough, and to be honest, I'm posing the question because I'm just wondering about things more so than having critical evidence or a big revelation about the lore.
So on to the discussion; is Hextech different to Yordle Tech? In the past yordles have been known to use hextech; Ziggs has his hexplosives, Corki's plane fires hextech bullets, and Rumble's mech is...no wait it's not it's described as yordle tech. Huh. Well Heimerdinger uses Hextech weapons too, so it would make sense if the two things were just interchangable terms. What makes me wonder if they aren't actually doesn't come from any of our technologically inclined yordles, but instead from Poppy:
http://gameinfo.euw.leagueoflegends.com/en/game-info/champions/poppy/#champion-lore
> While yordles used their innate magic to fashion extraordinary things, these humans achieved equally astounding feats through coordination and discipline. They acted in concert like the cogs of a gear, becoming something much larger and stronger than any single person could ever be. To Poppy, that was more marvelous than all the magic in the world.
With that paragraph it was revealed that yordles are innately magical as a species, and later down there we found out Poppy's true age, meaning that old yordles like Heimerdinger and Corki aren't just old, they're ancient, potentially being close to or even over 1,000 years old. And with the innate magic it gives context to some of the odd points of yordles; Teemo's mushrooms could be cultivated by him and imbued with magic, Kennen and Veigar could get their magic straight from themselves, and yordles like Tristana, Corki and Rumble power their weapons with their own magic, giving it greater power. The combination of these things made me look at Heimerdinger again, and there's something I noticed about his splash art; his stuff radiates magic. Not just the machinery but the component parts, completely innert and unused, are floating and glowing. While at one time this might've been artistic liberty, now there's a reason behind it.
Another point of thought for me was Jhin, and some revelations about how hextech works. Simply put, hextech is the super efficient usage of a small amount of magic to create and power amazing technology, with Jhin's gun whisper being an exception because it's Ionian origins mean it can draw upon vast natural magic to work, making it one of the most powerful hextech weapons we've ever seen, and potentially in all of Runeterra. Then this got me thinking about where hextech even came from in the first place.
So then I took a look at the stuff I just talked about and put it together:
- Yordles have innate magic and use it to create amazing and extraordinary things.
- Hextech is made with small, efficiently used magic due to the lack of natural magic around when its made in Piltover and Zaun.
And I began entertaining the idea that yordles brought the idea of magical technology to the forefront of human endeavours, leading to the development and establishment of hextech as an actual thing. Picture this; a younger Heimerdinger many centuries ago meets some humans and shows them his great works. They marvel at them and ask him to teach them how to make such wonders themselves. He shows them how he does it, and those humans took the techniques and began creating devices powered by magic itself, and with this new power in the world a new industry boomed and the cities of Piltover and Zaun were changed forever.
This whole thing might be for naught and yordle tech might not be a thing distinct from hextech, but eh this is just a theory anyway so I don't mind that; I'd rather just keep thinking and wondering and maybe find new theories. So what do you guys think on the matter? I mean sod what do you guys think about magical technology in League in general?
